Chapter 241 — The World That Remained
The sky was empty. Not calm. Not peaceful. Empty. Where once five radiant rings had dominated the heavens—where light had descended with absolute certainty, where judgment had taken form and pressed itself upon the world—there was now nothing. No structure. No presence. No lingering authority. Just sky. And yet—no one mistook it for freedom.
The ruins of the eastern city still smoldered. Not with raging fire, but with the quiet persistence of something that refused to fully die. Ash clung to broken stone. Half-collapsed structures leaned against each other like they had given up on standing alone. The streets, once defined by movement and purpose, had become scattered paths of debris and silence. People moved through it carefully. Not because it was dangerous. Because it felt wrong to move too quickly.
